It doesn't take a lot to have us a cooing over a fluffy foal, but there are some with stories so remarkable — and adorable — that they have really pulled at the heart strings...
If we’re going to talk about foals that have melted our hearts, Microdave is a pretty good place to start. The American minature stood at just 12-inches-tall when he was pictured at three days old — and had a knack of nipping under the fence in the field and making a run for it. “I have to check people’s pockets as they leave to check they haven’t stolen him,” said his owner Jen Baldwin Murphy.
The rare white-coloured mule foal Daisy caused a bit of a stir when she arrived at the Hertfordshire-based Greenacres Equestrian — her dam, a 13.2hh Connemara was bought for the riding school, with yard owners Di and Pennie Cornish not knowing she was in foal. “If I was paid a pound for every person at the riding school who has come and visited her, I would be a millionaire,” said Pennie.
Miniature foal Phoenix arrived in the spotlight when he was born in the middle of the day at Woodlands Family Theme Park, in Dartmouth, delighting crowds. “We have never had a foal born in the middle of the day,” said Michaela Newham, head keeper of the zoo farm. “He gave the crowd of visitors an amazing experience on their day out at Woodlands.”
Expectations are high for Treve’s foal who was born last month (1 February 2017) — the colt’s mother’s earnings topped £6 million during her racing career, including winning back-to-back victories in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 2013 and 2014. “The next chapter to the story starts now, and we can only hope this colt [who is the son of Dubawi ] will be as fast as his parents!” said stud manager Benoy Jeffroy at Al Shaqab Racing’s Haras de Bouquetot stud in Normandy, France, where the foal was born.
“The more the merrier” was the moto at Lowhouses Dales Pony Stud in Mickleton-in-Teesdale when Dales pony colts Lowhouses Casper and Lowhouses Jasper arrived. “The smaller foal came out first and my husband said, ‘look at the size of this, there’s got to be another one’ and sure enough there was,” said Freda Longstaff, who owns the stud with her husband Richie.
Princess Anna and Princess Elsa (named after Disney’s Frozen characters) had a rough start in life — the two foals were both orphaned. But after being rescued by the RSPCA they swiftly became best buddies. “They have had such a terrible start in life, but have recovered well and it was a pleasure to watch them run and play in their new paddock,” said Liz Wood deputy manager at the RSPCA’s Millbrook Animal Centre in Surrey.
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A graduate from Durham University, Madeleine joined H&H in 2011 and became Features Editor — producing content across the magazine and website, including the popular inside back cover article ‘The horse that made me’ and the weekly ‘The best of my fun…’ interview. She has written on topics as diverse as hay making and headcams, to hot totty in the horse world and circus horses. Madeleine now works as a freelance feature writer for Country Life, The Telegraph, Horse & Hound, cntraveller.com, The Spectator and The Field, as well as writing obituaries for The Times.
